Fighting For Ender's Game

David Konow, 23rd July 2013

The news is all over the place about Ender’s Game, and the controversy surrounding the film. The adaptation of one of the most popular science fiction books in recent memory is highly anticipated among geeks, but many are in an uproar about Orson Scott Card’s views against gay marriage.

You knew this would come up at Comic Con, and rather than run from the controversy, producer Roberto Orci addressed it to the geek elite in San Diego. This is obviously going to be the white elephant in the room for a long time, so why hide from it?

Orci is part of what we call Team Abrams, meaning he’s written and produced a number of projects under the Abrams umbrella, from Alias to Lost to Star Trek. Orci is a producer on Game, and as the Hollywood Reporter tells us, he told Hall H, “The message of the movie and book are messages of empathy and compassion. Rather than shy away, we are happy to embrace it.”

As Orci continued, “The truth is, you never want to court controversy. But we decided to use the attention on us to support Lionsgate’s statement of support of LGBT rights.” And indeed, Lionsgate, who will be releasing Game in November, distanced themselves from Card’s beliefs in a statement, and showed their support for the LGBT community.

We’re willing to be that audiences will make Ender’s Game a success or a flop on the merits of the movie alone, not on Card’s belief system. The message of the book may be at odds with his views of gay marriage, but sometimes a good lesson is a good lesson, even if it comes from a better teacher than role model.